Jingdong Changes Brick And Mortar Book Shopping

Physical bookstores have been facing issues with sales for many years due to a lot of competition, especially online. JD.com is trying to help these book and mortar store despite them technically being their competition. In China, many book retailers are experiencing a sort of revival thank to the efforts of Jingdong.

As the biggest retailer in China, JD.com sells a large number of books through their digital platforms. Jingdong is working with 49 different bookstores across China in order to drive business to their stores and get customers in their doors. They are helping them with logistics, technology, and book ordering so they can carry the books that their customers are looking for. They are doing this as part of their “Retail as a Service” (RaaS) strategy. This strategy also includes assistant for other types of shops such as cell phone stores and restaurants.

The technology that JD.com has developed for their own supply chain is what is being used to help modernize these businesses that are participating in their “Retail as a Service” (RaaS) strategy. One of the problems that Jingdong found these bookstores were running into is an overcomplicated supply chain. One of the stores had more than 60 suppliers that they had to use before joining the RAAS strategy. With the help of JD.com, this particular retailer was able to grow their sales by 30% within less than a year.

One of the other problems that brick and mortar retail bookstores were having is the inability to stock every title that customers wanted from their stores. Unlike JD.com, they just had no way to store all of these titles at their location but they were able to offer a solution. At one of these shops, their customers can simply scan a QR code that will allow them to have the book that they are looking for in their hands within 24 hours. By working together, these bookstores are able to provide an endless selection for their customers to choose from. Jingdong benefits from this arrangement as they keep part of the profits from each sale that is made in this manner.